This invention is directed to a method whereby rhodoxanthin can be synthetically produced without the necessity for isolating rhodoxanthin or its intermediates from their natural source.
Rhodoxanthin, which is formed in nature in the berries of evergreen trees such as Paxus Baccata, is widely used as a coloring material for foodstuffs and beverages as well as pharmaceutical and cosmetic preparations. Rhodoxanthin imparts to foodstuffs, pharmaceutical and cosmetic preparations a red coloration. In the past rhodoxanthin has been produced by isolating this material from its natural source such as from the berries of evergreen plants. This procedure has proven extremely disadvantageous due to the fact that rhodoxanthin occurs only in small amounts in these berries. Therefore, a great quantity of these berries must be utilized in order to isolate a small amount of rhodoxanthin. Additionally, the process whereby rhodoxanthin is isolated from the berries of green plants has proven extremely cumbersome and uneconomical. Up until the present time there has been no procedure for directly chemically synthesizing rhodoxanthin without isolating rhodoxanthin or precursors of rhodoxanthin from their natural source. Therefore, it has long been desired in the art to provide a method for chemically synthesizing rhodoxanthin so as to eliminate the necessity of isolating rhodoxanthin or its precursors from its natural source.